Black Book

While the winner Morton's Fork was the clear standout in the race, High Mist also caught the eye with a much improved run after the High Chaparral colt disappointed in his first city race. Tracked stablemate Tumultuous early in the straight and was held-up for a run at the 350m. He was also stiff late in the race when crowded by Harper's Choice and Tye Angland had to stop riding on the heels of Morton's Fork. It probably cost High Mist third place in the race.

Lightly-raced six-year-old for Matthew Dale. Won first-up by a big margin at Canberra this campaign before tackling the Highway Handicap. From barrier two he was able to land in a good position midfield. After momentarily getting held-up at the top of the straight, Tommy Berry was able to get the gelding into the clear, but under pressure he was inclined to lay in and ended up running up the back of Star Shaft at the 150m. He struggled from there to get going again, finishing out of the placings. He is right down in the ratings and Dale should be able to place him in a winnable race next start.

Wouldn't drop off the import quite yet. He took a bit of time to wind-up in the straight and once he started to build some momentum, jockey Rory Hutchings had to change course to get out of traffic. Squeezed through a gap at the 125m, but was still unable to be fully tested over the concluding stages. Still finished just over two lengths off the winner. He's had two cracks over 1500m now and should be ready to step-up to the mile.

Promising mare from the Snowden yard who hasn't finished outside the top two in her first five race starts. Sam Clipperton found a gap for the mare at the 125m, but had to shift out and it took the mare a few strides to balance up again, bumping stablemate Thud. Hit the line strongly however to grab second behind a good mare in Elle Lou. Came into the race with a rating of just 70 so there is the opportunity to have her line-up in weaker races than she faced at Rosehill. Also went to the 1350m first-up and should benefit from the run.

On a note from the Randwick meeting on July 9, be prepared to get the red pen out and put a line through just about every form reference from that day. We've already seen examples where horses from the Randwick meeting have come out and produced a complete turnaround in form. Grande Punto (6th, beaten 7.3L) and Painte (5th, beaten 6.5L) failed at Randwick despite bringing in good records on heavy tracks. On Saturday they ran the quinella in the TAB.com.au Handicap. Elle Lou finished fifth beaten 2.2L last week before a dominant win at Rosehill. A runner from the Highway Handicap also put in a good run at Goulburn at big odds on Monday.

The Randwick track was rated a Heavy 9 that day but Tommy Berry declared it as heavy as you would ride on after the first race. A heavy Randwick track also seems to play a lot different to other tracks in Sydney and the form doesn't seem to be transferring with a lot of runners.

There will be plenty of runners this weekend at Canterbury where we'll have to completely ignore the run a fortnight back.